The present invention relates to an automatic program head positioning system for tape decks for advancing or skipping a recorded passage which is about to be played and going on to the next passage.
The program head positioning system responsive to a silence between recorded passages on the tape during a fast movement of the tape has been proposed, for example, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,650, Itsuki Ban "APPARATUS FOR SELECTIVELY FEEDING AN ENDLESS TAPE AT NORMAL OR FAST FEED AND FOR AUTOMATICALLY CHANGING FROM FAST FEED TO NORMAL FEED", issued on Aug. 31, 1971, and the U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,117, Theophiel Clement Jozef Lodewijk Staar "TAPE CARTRIDGE APPARATUS INCLUDING A SILENCE RESPONSIVE POSITIONING CONTROL," issued on May 23, 1972.
The program head positioning system of the prior art comprises a sensing head in addition to a record/playback head and the sensing head is in physical contact with the tape under fast forward or rewind mode. The tape speed selection between the fast movement and normal operating modes is mechanically controlled with the use of idler wheels. The system is unavoidably complicated since the sensing head, the circuit associated with the sensing head and the additional idler wheel are necessary.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic program head positioning system exactly positioning a head to a passage with a simple construction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tape speed control system wherein the revolution velocity of a motor for driving the tape is electrically controlled.
Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
To achieve the above objectives, pursuant to the present invention, there is provided an automatic program advance switch for advancing or skipping a recorded passage which is about to be played and going on to the next passage. The tape is driven at a fast speed upon depression of the automatic program advance swich, and a playback head is kept in physical contact with the tape under such a fast movement mode. A reproduction signal from the playback head is muted with the use of a squelch circuit under the fast movement mode. The tape drive is returned to its normal operating speed when a silence between recorded passages on the tape is detected by a recorded passage detection circuit associated with the playback head during the fast movement of the tape. The tape speed control can be provided by varying the revolution velocity of a motor for driving the tape.